It’s nearly halfway through December, and I am still on a NaNo high. Apparently, the results are long lasting, especially when I consider the unexpected consequences of being a first-time NaNo winner.

 

The cookies and coffee I shared with my husband the night I finished (a day early, because there wasn’t the time on Sunday) were the first leg of the celebration, and undoubtedly the best. But in the days that followed, I also received a congratulatory Facebook message from my kindergarten teacher, who still holds a special place in my heart. Turns out, Mrs. B. remembers the stories I wrote those many years ago, complete with “inventive spelling,” which I hope has been remedied by this point.

 

Another bonus to the experience was a resurgence in interest in Nighttime Ninja, one of my favorite picture books to read to my kids. When I won the word sprint at my local kick-off party, the prize was a ninja hood, supposedly intended to be a “thinking cap” of sorts when we hit a wall. I took it home and used it to reread the story, which had languished too long on the shelf. My younger son, especially, fell back in love with the book, and has asked for it many times since. We always have to find the hood first, and we take turns wearing it.

 

 

Now I am enjoying just knowing that I have two full manuscripts in my repertoire! I didn’t make any solid writing plans for December. I am enjoying the rest after a determined month-long focus.

 

I intend to start the new year with a literary bang, and am beginning to gear up to revise my previous novel in January. My writing time the next few weeks will be devoted to note-taking and editing my synopsis to figure out how to solve the problems my rejections illuminated. I am encouraged by the progress I made in a single month, and am already looking forward to next year’s NaNo.

 

But in the meantime, I have a heck of a lot of editing to do . . . and ninjas to read to, and Christmas cookies to eat.